


JezeBelle

by FrenchRoast



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 21:39:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2244363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrenchRoast/pseuds/FrenchRoast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle isn't quite what Rumple thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	JezeBelle

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Rumbelle Showdown. Required prompts: Envy vs. Jealousy, For your entertainment, A terrible beauty

_Once upon a time, there lived a—_

“Belle!” the Dark One’s voice echoed from his spinning room downstairs. He needed her again. Belle smiled and closed her book; she would come back to it later. Though it looked rather below her usual reading level, so perhaps she would try a few other books before coming back to it. Maybe she’d teach herself how to read the books she’d come across written in a foreign alphabet; a challenge would be a welcome change.

Before she could walk across the library to return the tome to its place on the shelf, Rumplestiltskin appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked resplendent as always, his perfectly tailored leather jacket shiny even against the golden sheen of his skin. Anyone else would think he looked terribly frightening, but for Belle, the Dark One’s appearance had become more likely to entrance her than scare her. Even when he was terrible, he had an allure she couldn’t quite decipher.

“I was just on my way,” she started to explain.

He waved her off with a slight flick of his wrist and tilt of his head. Belle was wearing the blue dress he’d had made for her after realizing that her golden gown, however lovely it looked on her, was less than comfortable to wear while doing the various tasks he’d charged her with. He’d chosen the blue to match her eyes—which the Dark One found himself staring at more and more frequently these days.

“Well, dearie, I see you’ve been keeping this room exceptionally clean,” Rumplestiltskin observed. His mouth curled with the faintest glimmer of a grin. He was bored, and he wanted to play. “You never seem to spend this much time cleaning my quarters.”

Belle wasn’t sure how to respond. She knew from the way he said it that he was baiting her for his own pleasure, but she wasn’t sure it was good to encourage this sort of game. Then again, there was no reason why two couldn’t play this game; Belle wasn’t stuck back in her kingdom, condemned to be demure and proper while the men said and did whatever they wished. Besides, this had the potential to be amusing, especially if she could surprise him. The Dark One liked trying to shock her; turnabout would be more than fair.

“There’s so little to clean in your quarters,” Belle started. “You’re never there except to change clothes, and you haven’t many clothes to launder. Also, you rarely make use of your bed, so there’s hardly a need to wash the linens with frequency, at least for the moment.”

“Your point?” he asked, pretending to pay more attention to the spine of a crimson book.

“Perhaps if you spent more time in your quarters, so would I. And you might as well let me sleep there as anywhere else; maybe then the bed would get dirty enough to clean.” Belle said the last with a slight blush rising in her cheeks; she knew exactly how salacious she sounded.

Rumple was taken aback at the suggestive nature of her reply. But then, he thought to himself, he should’ve realized he’d be playing with fire eventually. This was the woman who defied her father, a king, and went off with a monster she’d never before laid eyes on, simply to save a bunch of other people. She was bold, no matter how meek she might appear. Even so, this wasn’t like Belle. Surely something else was having an influence on her.

“What kind of books have you been reading up here, dearie?”

“Just the ones you filled this library with,” Belle replied oh-so-innocently. “There are some intriguing texts from Agrabah that I’ve only glanced at so far, but what I’ve seen has been quite…educational, you might say.”

“What?” the Dark One couldn’t hide the shock in his voice as he turned away from the book to look at Belle. Surely there hadn’t been _those_ kinds of books in the libraries he’d purchased from Dr. Frankenstein and Lancelot. They weren’t so prurient as that.

Or were they?

Belle stood there watching the countenance on Rumplestiltskin’s aurous face go from surprised to questioning to concerned, and could finally take it no longer. She started to laugh. “I thought you might have heard the rumors about Agrabah’s ‘literature,’ too,” she managed to say after several peals of laughter. She tried to compose herself, and mostly succeeded.  “Don’t worry, I wasn’t serious. I haven’t come across anything like that in this library.”

Rumple gave Belle a miffed, almost wounded (and though he tried to hide it, immensely disappointed) look. If she hadn’t started giggling again, Belle might have felt bad.

“You know, dearie, I’m not sure I like this mischievous streak,” he mock-scolded her. “It’s like you spend all your time with a bad guy or something.”

Belle stopped giggling and took on a more serious, somber tone.

“Dark One, you know you’re the only person I spend time with.” Her blue eyes shone.

“I know. That’s why I can’t explain it. You’d think someone like me, with my reputation, would be a better influence on you.” He giggled to himself. Belle loved the high pitch of his giggle, the way it peaked and then smoothed out into smaller, lower-pitched notes.

“It is quite inexplicable.”

“I’ll just have to spend more time with you, until your behaviour is more acceptable. Now, not a word more until you’ve made tea for both of us.” He shooed her out of the library and watched as she descended the stairs. Rumple envied her goodness, even more now that he saw she knew more of the world than he’d thought—more than enough to tease him. She deserved a life better than the one she had with him. Sometimes he felt guilty for taking Belle from her family.

Then again, when he thought of her sleeping in his bed, and just how dirty it would get if she ever willingly climbed into it, he felt better.


End file.
